Economic Data On Tap |Morning News

MARCH 03, 2016
US futures dance along the flat line at this hour as market trade mixed around the world and investors await a plethora of economic data today, including PMI services index and ISM non-manufacturing index. Tomorrow before the opening, crucial jobs data is set to be released. Overnight, oil struggled to find direction as crude trades below $35.

NEWS:

• AZN: FDA approves new indication for Faslodex, reports nasdaq
• TUMI: Samonite nears deal to buy luxury luggage maker Tumi, reports the WSJ
• TGT: Target culling products in its store to help resolve out-of-stock issues, reports WSJ
• CBI: named Top Pick in JP Morgan's engineering and construction sector, rated overweight with a $52 pt
• QLIK: Elliott Associates discloses 8.88% stake in the company
• HLF: Herballife identifies errant "active new member" metric and corrective action taken, reports street insider
• INTC: Intel working on an augmented reality headset, reports WSJ
• DD: Dupont sees ag sector to remain challenged in FY16
• M: President Jeffrey Gennette files purchase of 25K shares of stock
• LB: sss up 5% in Feb
• BKE: sss down 8.9% in Feb

THE ECONOMIC CALENDAR:

• VARIOUS TIMES: Chain Store Sales
• 7:30AM: Challenger Job Cut Report
• 8:30AM: Weekly Jobless Claims
• 8:30AM: Productivity and Costs
• 8:30AM: Gallup Good Jobs Rate
• 9:45AM: PMI Services Index
• 9:45AM: Bloomberg Consumer Comfort Index
• 10AM: ISM Non-Manufacturing Index
• 10AM: Factory Orders
• 10:30AM: EIA Natural Gas Inventory
• 10:45AM: Fed's Kaplan speaks on "Monetary Policy"
• 4:30PM: Money Supply and Fed Balance Sheet

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS REPORTED YESTERDAY AFTER THE CLOSE:

• JOBS: Q4 EPS of $0.52 beats by $0.17: revenue of $94.29M beats by $4.39M: revenue +10.7% y/y: guides Q1 above consensus
• LHCG: Q4 EPS of $0.53 beats by $0.08: revenue of $218.99M beats by $5.6M: revenue +13.2% y/y: guides EPS below consensus
• SKUL: Q4 EPS of $0.26 beats by $0.03: revenue of $96.05M misses by $0.86M: revenue -0.8% y/y: soft guidance
• AEO:Q4 EPS of $0.42 in-line: revenue of $1.11B misses by $10M: revenue +3.7% y/y: guides EPS above consensus
• BIOS: Q4 EPS of -$0.13 misses by $0.05: revenue of $243.75M beats by $5.45M: revenue +1.7% y/y: provides mixed guidance
• HABT: Q4 EPS of $0.05 beats by $0.01: revenue of $60.64M misses by $0.11M: revenue +25.4% y/y: guides FY16 below consensus
• PSTG: Q4 EPS of -$0.12 beats by $0.04: revenue of $150.23M beats by $11.66M: revenue +128.1% y/y: strong Q1 and FY guidance
• WB: Q4 EPS of $0.15 beats by $0.02: revenue of $149M beats by $0.41M: revenue +41.6% y/y: guides revenue below consensus

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS REPORTED TODAY BEFORE THE OPENING:

• BURL: Q4 EPS of $1.49 beats by $0.03: revenue of $1.55B beats by $10M: revenue +4.0% y/y: guides Q1 EPS $0.44-$0.48 vs consensus $0.49
• CIEN: FQ1 EPS of $0.18 beats by $0.04: revenue of $573.12M misses by $3.18M: revenue +8.3% y/y: guides Q2 revenue $615M-$645M vs consensus $644.63M
• BLD: Q4 EPS of $0.52 misses by $0.01: revenue of $426.5M misses by $1.66M: revenue +7.1% y/y
• KR: Q4 EPS of $0.57 beats by $0.03: revenue of $26.17B misses by $110M: revenue +3.8% y/y: guides FY16 EPS $2.19-$2.28 vs consensus $2.24
• JOY: FQ1 EPS of -$0.23 misses by $0.11: revenue of $526M misses by $5.91M: revenue -25.3% y/y: guides FY16 EPS $0.10-$0.50 vs consensus $0.25
• MEI:FQ3 EPS of $0.45 beats by $0.02: revenue of $184.6M misses by $5.71M;revenue -10.4% y/y: reaffirms FY16 EPS $2.06-$2.18 vs consensus $2.11
• SSI: Q4 EPS of $0.91 misses by $0.15: revenue of $502.63M beats by $1.14M: revenue -4.2% y/y: guides FY16 EPS below consensus
• SSYS: Q4 EPS Of -$0.01 beats by $0.11: revenue of $173.36M beats by $5.05M: revenue -20.2% y/y: guides FY16 EPS $0.17-$0.43 vs consensus $0.18: guides FY16 revenue $700M-$730M: vs consensus $700.6M
• TSL: Q4 EPS of $0.43 beats by $0.15: revenue of $961.9M beats by $137.66M: revenue +36.4% y/y
• BKS: FQ3 EPS of $1.04 misses by $0.02: revenue of $1.41B misses by $10M: revenue -2.1% y/y
• EGL: Q4 EPS of $0.66 beats by $0.08: revenue of $537M beats by $2.61M: revenue  +68.1% y/y: reaffirms FY16 EPS $1.01-$1.15 vs consensus $1.01
• TECD: Q4 EPS of $2.29 beats by $0.20: revenue of $7.49B beats by $380M: revenue +2.0% y/y: guides Q1 EPS below consensus

SOME NOTABLE EARNINGS TO BE REPORTED TODAY AFTER THE CLOSE:

• AMBA, AREX, AVGO, BLDR, CKP, CLNE, COO, CORT, CYTX, EYES, HCI, HRB, IRG, LADR, MENT, NMBL, PLNT, SNAK, SWHC, XOXO, UNXL

ANALYSTS' RATINGS CHANGES:

UPGRADES:

• DIS: upgrade: equal weight to overweight: Piper Jaffray:pt raised from $105 to  $120
• INTC: upgrade: perform to outperform: Baird: pt raised from $33 to $38
• PBPB: upgrade: underweight to neutral: Piper Jaffray: pt raised from $12 to $13
• VTR: upgrade: hold to buy: Mizuho: $68
• BWLD: upgrade: neutral to outperform: Wedbush: pt raised from $160 to $200
• SPG: upgrade: buy to conviction buy: Goldman: pt raised from $222 to $237
• MPC: upgrade: neutral to buy: BofA/Merrill
• WU: upgrade: reduce to neutral: SunTrust: pt raised from $14 to $16
• VLO: upgrade: underperform to neutral: BofA/Merrill
• ITRI: upgrade: hold to buy: Argus: $48
• SHW: upgrade: neutral to buy: Citi: pt raised from $281 to $316
• INXN: upgrade: market perform to outperform: Raymond James: $35

DOWNGRADES:

• BA: downgrade: buy to hold: Canaccord: $135
• CKP: downgrade: outperform to in-line: Imperial Capital: $10.15
• BCEI: downgrade: buy to hold: Societe Generale: pt cut from $8 to $1.20
• NDLS: downgrade: neutral to underweight: Piper Jaffray: $8
• CRK: downgrade: outperform to in-line: Imperial Capital: pt cut from $1.50 to $0.75
• CHSP: downgrade: buy to in-line: RBC Capital: $29
• EPR: downgrade: buy to neutral: Ladenburg
• FCX: downgrade: buy to neutral: UBS: $9
• SUNE: downgrade: buy to hold: Macquarie: $2
• GARS: downgrade: buy to hold: Cantor Fitzgerald: pt cut from $16 to $12
• AA: downgrade: buy to neutral: BofA/Merrill: $10.50
• CXP: downgrade: overweight to equal weight: Morgan Stanley: $21

INITIATIONS:

• REGN: initiated: neutral: SunTrust: $450
• SGEN: initiated: neutral: SunTrust: $34
• CRMD: initiated: outperform: FBR Capital: $7
• LGND: initiated: buy: Wainwright: $146
• MCRB: initiated: buy: Guggenheim: $41
• RES: initiated: strong buy: Raymond James: $17
• AA: initiated: hold: Berenberg: $9
• ATI: initiated: hold: Berenberg: $13.90
• FCS: reinstated: neutral: JP Morgan: $20
• ON: reinstated: neutral: JP Morgan: $10
• GWPH: initiated: sell: Numis Securities: 
• IL: initiated: buy: B Riley: $14.30

PRICE TARGET CHANGES:

• VAC: pt raised from $64 to $68: Telsey Advisory
• TGT: pt raised from $86 to $88: Cowen
• UNH: pt raised from $133 to $138: Credit Suisse
• URBN: pt raised from $26 to $29: Baird
• ANF: pt raised from $26 to $31: Baird
• PSTG: pt raised from $22 to $27: Maxim Group
• INXN: pt raised from $35 to $36: Stifel
• BMRN: pt raised from $105 to $107: Stifel
• BMRN: pt raised from $110 to $114: Credit Suisse
• SMTC: pt raised from $19 to $22: RBC Capital
• ASCMA: pt cut from $30 to $20: Imperial Capital
• ECR: pt cut from $2 to $1.50: Topeka Capital
• DY: pt cut from $100 to $80: Stifel
• PCOM: pt cut from $18 to $17: RBC Capital
• ECYT: pt cut from $12 to $8: Wedbush
• OCN: pt cut from $8 to $4: Compass Point
• MON: pt cut from $110 to $105: Deutsche Bank
• NBL: pt cut from $20 to $11: Argus